Conveyor jogging mechanism

ABSTRACT

A jogging mechanism for a conveyor or the like for preventing the jamming or bridging of articles on the conveyor. The jogging mechanism comprises an article-engaging wall member on the conveyor and a mechanism for simultaneously moving the wall member in two different directions. The moving mechanism comprises a reciprocating mechanism for moving the wall member back and forth substantially along a rectilinear path, and structure engageable by the ends of the wall member during reciprocal movement of the wall member along the rectilinear path, the structure imparting movement to the member in a direction transverse to the rectilinear direction.

United States Patent Peres [54] CONVEYOR JOGGING MECHANISM [72]Inventor: Anthony R. Peres, Bristol, N.Y.

[73] Assignee: Peres Electronic Machinery, Inc.,

Rochester, NY.

[22] Filed: Feb. 26, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 119,194

[52] US. Cl ..l98/30, 198/32 [51] int. Cl ..B65g 47/26 [58] Field ofSearch ..198/30, 32, 31 AB [56] References Cited v UNITED STATES.PATENTS 2,315,880 4/1943 Stiles 198/32 3,117,665 1/1964 Nekola et a1.

2,373,600 4/1945 Richey ..l98/30 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS6,716,950 6/1969 Netherlands; .198/30 [451 Dec. 26, 1972 PrimaryExaminer-Richard E. Aegerter Assistant Examiner-Douglas D. WattsAttorney-Cumpston, Shaw & Stephens [57 ABSTRACT A jogging mechanism fora conveyoror the like for preventing the jamming or bridging of articleson the conveyor. The jogging mechanism comprises an article-engagingwall member on the conveyor and a mechanism for simultaneously movingthe wall member in two different directions. The moving mechanismcomprises a reciprocating mechanism for moving thewall member back andforth substantially along a rectilinear path, and structure engageableby the ends of the wall member during reciprocal move- -ment of the wallmember along the rectilinear'path,

the structureimparting movement to the member in a direction transverseto the rectilinear direction.

9-Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTED DEC 2 6 I972 SHEET 2 OF 2 as K FIG.8

FIG. 9

INVENTOR. ANTHONY PERES BYW WWW ATTORNEYS CONVEYOR .IOGGING MECHANISMBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This inventionrelates generally to conveyor mechanisms, and more specifically to ajogging mechanism for a conveyor or the like for preventing the jammingof conveyed articles.

2. Description of the Prior Art Conveyors for moving articles such ascans, bottles, or the like along a predetermined path from one stationto another station are generally well-knownin the art. Such conveyorshave side walls to provide a guide path for the articles, and in someoperations the side walls are spaced apart a greater distance at thepoint where the articles are introduced into the conveyor,and the sidewalls converge as they progress towards the delivery end of theconveyor. Normally at the delivery end, the side walls of the conveyorare parallel to one another for delivering the articles to a workstation preferably in single-line array. In conveying systems. of thistype,.a problem occurs at the junction of the converging and parallelsidewalls. At this junction, a plurality of articles attempting to enterthe narrower space between the parallel sidewalls, strike one anotherresulting in the formation of a jam or bridge of articles whichcompletely blocks the passage of articles into the delivery end of theconveyor. Various prior devices have been proposed for avoiding orpreventing such jamming of articles in conveyors, including joggingmechanisms such as disclosed in US. Pat. Nos. 1,196,442 and 2,615,555.In such jogging mechanisms, the conveyor is provided in the area wherethe jamming normally occurs with a reciprocally movable sidewall member.Another jogging mechanism is disclosed in US. Pat. No. 2,315,880comprising an oscillatable, pivotal wall member. Although such prior artmechanisms operate satisfactorily, they are not foolproof and in certaininstances jamming still occurs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention includes within its scope animproved jogging mechanism for a conveyor or the like to prevent thejamming of articles on a conveyor. The conveyor is provided near thearea where article jamming normally occurs with an article engagingsidewall member that is mounted for simultaneous movement in twodifferent directions. More specifically, the sidewall member is providedwith a pivot preferably at its center, and an arm coupled to the pivotand reciprocally driven in a rectilinear direction. The conveyor isfurther provided with spaced-apart cam means engageable by the ends ofthe wall member for imparting pivotal movement to the wall member as itis moved back and forth by the driven arm.

It is therefore one of the objects of the present invention to providean improved jogging mechanism for a conveyor or the like having areciprocally movable article-engaging sidewall member that issimultaneously moved in rectilinear and pivotal directions.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved joggingmechanism for a conveyor or the like that is of simple design andconstruction, thoroughly reliable in operation, and economical tomanufacture.

The invention and its objects and advantages will become more apparentfrom the detailed description of the preferred embodiments presentedbelow.

. 2 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING In the detailed description of thepreferred embodiments of the invention presented below, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is atop plan view illustrating one embodiment of the joggingmechanism of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an end view taken from line 2 2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section view taken substantially. along line 3 3 of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4 6 are schematic views of the jogging mechanism illustrating thedifferent positions assumed by a reciprocally movable sidewall member asit is simultaneously moved in rectilinear and pivotal directions;

FIG. 7 is atop plan elevational view similar to FIG. 1 illustratinganother embodiment of the jogging mechanism of this invention; 7

FIG. 8 is a rear elevational view of the jogging mechanism of FIG. 7;and

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view in section taken substantially along line 9 9of FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference to the drawings,particularly FIG. 4, the jogging mechanism is schematically illustratedin combination with a conveyor having parallel sidewalls 4 forming adelivery end of the conveyor and converging sidewalls 6 for supplyingarticles such as bottles 8 to the delivery end. In the embodiment of thejogging mechanism illustrated in FIGS. 1 3, conveyor frame members 10are shown for supporting a pair of rigid, spaced-apart, parallel guiderails 12. The jogging mechanism as best seen in FIG. 3 comprises a flat,elongated, rectangular sidewall member 14 on one side of guide rails 12,a back-up plate 16 on the opposite side of the guide rails, and a spacerbearing 18 clamped between sidewall member 14 and back-up plate 16, andhaving opposed sides 20 slidably engageable with guide rails 12. Thesidewall member 14, spacer bearing 18 and back-up plate 16 rigidlysecured together by any suitable means such as a bolt 22 and nut 24 (seeFIG. 1) to form a jogging unit supported for movement by guide rails 12.The wall member 14 and back-up plate 16 are of a greater height thanspacer bearing 18, and cooperate therewith to form a pair of recesses 26within which guide rails 12 are captured, as best seen in FIG. 3. Thewidth of recesses 26 is greater than the diameter of guide rails 12 toprovide lost motion for permitting lateral motion of the jogging unitrelative to guide rails 12. Since the length of the jogging unit is lessthan the length of guide rails 12, reciprocal movement of the unit in adirection parallel to the guide rails is permitted as well. To minimizewear between guide rails 12 and the jogging unit, and to facilitatemovement of the parts, the wall member 14, back-up plate l6, and spacerbearing 18 may be constructed of or faced with any suitable materialsuch as Delrin (trademark), Teflon (trademark) or the like that hasinherent lubricating qualities. In FIG. 3 back-up plate 16 is providedwith such a coating 28.

The jogging unit is movable in rectilinear directions A and B (see FIGS.4 6) parallel to guide rails 12 by any suitable reciprocating mechanismsuch as a double acting piston and fluid cylinder 30 shown in blockdiagram form in FIG. 1 having a piston rod 32 and yoke 34 at oneend'pivotally secured to one end of-a laterally extending arm 36rigidlysecured to back-up plate 16 of the jogging unit. Any other suitablereciprocating mechanism such as a rotatable eccentric crank coupled tothe arm of the jogging unit may be used. The conveyor structure isfurther provided with cam means in the form of a pair of spaced-apartinclined ramps.38

secured to the frames by screws 40, as best seen in' FIG. 2, andpreferably spaced apart a distance substantially as great as the lengthof wall member 14. Accordingly, when the jogging unit is moved in arectilinear direction A by the reciprocating mechanism as seen in FIG.5, one end of wall member 14 will slide up its complimentary ramp 38moving a part of the wall member in the lateral direction C, whiletheother end slides down its complimentary ramp 38 moving the remainder ofthe wall member in the lateral direction D. The result of such lateralmovements is to pivotally move wall member l4 in the direction E. whenthe rectilinear direction of movement is reverse to B as seen in FIG. 6,the reverse situation occurs. As the ends simultaneously slide up anddown their complimentary ramps 38, they are laterally moved in thedirections .C, D shown in FIG. 6 causingwall member '14 to be pivoted inthe opposite direction F. The lateral and pivotal movement of thejogging unit is permitted by virtue of the aforementioned lost motionexisting between guide railsl2 and the adjacent surfaces of wall member14 and back-up plate 16. Naturally, such lost motion must be at leastone-half the maximum distance that the end of member 14 is movedlaterally outwardly. To facilitate pivotal movement of wall member 14and to accommodate tolerances between the moving and stationary parts,the end of thewall member may be made slightly. flexible. This may beaccomplished by properly shaping the ends in the form of a V as seen inFIG. 1, or constructing them of some suitable flexible material. I

A much more simplified version of a jogging mechanism is disclosed inFIGS. 7 9. In this embodiment, parts similar to aforementioned partswill be designated'by the same numerals. The wall member 14 is a singlemember having a laterally extending flange 40 secured to its centerportion as best seen in FIG. 9. A yoke 42 at one end of an arm 44extends over flange 40 and is pivotally secured thereto by a bolt 46extending through openings in yoke 42 and an elongated opening 48 inflange 40. The opposite laterally extending end 50 of arm 44 is rigidlysecured to a piston rod 52 and is constrained for rectilinear movementin directions A and B by a support member 54. As in the aforementionedembodiment, back and forth movement of wall member 14 and arm 44 by thereciprocating mechanism causes the ends of wall member 14 to cooperatewith complimentary ramps 38 for simultaneously imparting rectilinear andpivoted movement to the wall member. Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG.4, any bottles 8 or the like which are passing from the convergingconveyor walls 6 to the delivery end 4 of the conveyor are subjectedduring operation of the jogging mechanism not only to a force tending tomove the articles back and forth in the rectilinear directions A and B,but in addition subject some of the articles 8 transverse to thedirection of the conveyor. This simul-. taneous application of forces tothe articles 8 in more than one direction has been found to be extremelyeffective in eliminating the problem of the jamming of articles along aconveyor line.

The invention has been described in detail with particular reference topreferred embodiments thereof, but it will .be understood thatvariations and modifications can be effected within the spirit andscope'of the invention described hereinabove.

lclaim: j s

1. In an article jogging mechanism for a conveyor or the like, thecombination comprising:

. means-for conveying articles;

means associated with said article conveying means for jogging at leastsome of the conveyed articles; said jogging means havingarticle-engaging means 7 comprising an elongated member, means forsimultaneously moving said article engaging means i in twodifferent-directions of movement, said moving means comprisingreciprocating means for moving said member in a substantiallyrectilinear direction, and cam means cooperating with said reciprocatingmeans when moved in said rectilinear direction for pivotally moving saidmember.

2. The invention accordingto claim 1 wherein said article engaging meanscomprises a substantially flat, rectangular, elongated member, pivotalabout a pivot spaced from a free end of said member, and said movingmeans comprises reciprocating means coupled'to said pivot formoving-said member in a substantially rectilinear direction, and cammeans cooperating with said free end of said member while'said member ismoving in said rectilinear direction for pivotally moving said member.

3. The invention according to claim 2 wherein said cam means comprises aramp engageable by said free end of said member, said free end beingmoved back and forth on said ramp.

' 4. In an article jogging mechanism for a conveyor or the like, thecombination comprising:

means for conveying article's;

means comprising an article engaging member associated with said articleconveying means for jogging at least some of the conveyed articles; andmeans for simultaneously imparting to said jogging means a combinationof reciprocatory movement in a substantially rectilinear direction, andpivotal movement in a direction transverse to said rectilineardirection, said imparting means comprising reciprocating means forimparting reciprocatory movement to said article engaging member in asubstantially rectilinear direction, and cam means cooperating with saidmoving reciprocating means for imparting pivotal movement to saidmember.

5. The invention according to claim 4 wherein said jogging meanscomprises a substantially flat, rectangular, elongated article engagingmember pivotal about a pivot spaced from a free end of said member, andsaid 65 imparting means comprises reciprocating means coupled to saidpivot for imparting reciprocatory movement to said member in asubstantially rectilinear 7 direction, and a ramp cooperating withsaidfree end of said pivotal member while said member is reciprocatedfor imparting pivot'al'move'ment to said member.

6. In an article jogging mechanism for a conveyor or the like, thecombination comprising:

means for conveying articles comprising a conveyor having spaced-apartconverging sidewalls at the conveyor supply end and spaced-apartparallel sidewalls at the conveyor delivery end;

jogging means substantially at the junction of said supply and deliveryends for engaging and jogging at least some of the conveyed articles;

said jogging means comprising an article engaging member forming a partof one of said sidewalls, and means for simultaneously moving saidarticle engaging member in two different directions of movement, saidmoving means comprising reciprocating means coupled to said articleengaging member for moving said member in a substantially rectilineardirection, and means cooperating with said member during its movement insaid rectilinear direction for pivotally moving said member in adirection transverse to said rectilinear direction.

7. The invention according to claim 6 wherein said article engagingmember is pivotal about a pivot spaced from an end of said member, andsaid moving means comprises a reciprocating means coupled to said pivotfor moving said member in a substantially rectilinear direction, and aramp engageable by'said one end of said member during its movement insaid rectilinear direction for pivotally moving said member in adirection transverse to said rectilinear direction.

8. The invention according to claim 6 wherein said article engagingmember is substantially flat, elongated and rectangular, and has twofree ends and a pivot centrally of said free ends about which saidmember pivotal, and said moving means comprises a reciprocating meanscoupled to said pivot for moving said member in a substantiallyrectilinear direction, and a pair of spaced-apart cam means on saidconveying means, each cam means adopted to be engageable by acomplimentary one of said free ends upon movement of said member in saidrectilinear direction for pivotally moving said member in a directiontransverse to said rectilinear direction.

9. The invention according to claim 8 wherein said cam means comprisesramps facing in opposite directions, each ramp having a base, one enddisplaced a predetermined distance from said base and the other enddisplaced a greater distance from said base, and said one end of each ofsaid ramps is closer to said pivot than said other end.

1. In an article jogging mechanism for a conveyor or the like, thecombination comprising: means for conveying articles; means associatedwith said article conveying means for jogging at least some of theconveyed articles; said jogging means having article-engaging meanscomprising an elongated member, means for simUltaneously moving saidarticle engaging means in two different directions of movement, saidmoving means comprising reciprocating means for moving said member in asubstantially rectilinear direction, and cam means cooperating with saidreciprocating means when moved in said rectilinear direction forpivotally moving said member.
 2. The invention according to claim 1wherein said article engaging means comprises a substantially flat,rectangular, elongated member, pivotal about a pivot spaced from a freeend of said member, and said moving means comprises reciprocating meanscoupled to said pivot for moving said member in a substantiallyrectilinear direction, and cam means cooperating with said free end ofsaid member while said member is moving in said rectilinear directionfor pivotally moving said member.
 3. The invention according to claim 2wherein said cam means comprises a ramp engageable by said free end ofsaid member, said free end being moved back and forth on said ramp. 4.In an article jogging mechanism for a conveyor or the like, thecombination comprising: means for conveying articles; means comprisingan article engaging member associated with said article conveying meansfor jogging at least some of the conveyed articles; and means forsimultaneously imparting to said jogging means a combination ofreciprocatory movement in a substantially rectilinear direction, andpivotal movement in a direction transverse to said rectilineardirection, said imparting means comprising reciprocating means forimparting reciprocatory movement to said article engaging member in asubstantially rectilinear direction, and cam means cooperating with saidmoving reciprocating means for imparting pivotal movement to saidmember.
 5. The invention according to claim 4 wherein said jogging meanscomprises a substantially flat, rectangular, elongated article engagingmember pivotal about a pivot spaced from a free end of said member, andsaid imparting means comprises reciprocating means coupled to said pivotfor imparting reciprocatory movement to said member in a substantiallyrectilinear direction, and a ramp cooperating with said free end of saidpivotal member while said member is reciprocated for imparting pivotalmovement to said member.
 6. In an article jogging mechanism for aconveyor or the like, the combination comprising: means for conveyingarticles comprising a conveyor having spaced-apart converging sidewallsat the conveyor supply end and spaced-apart parallel sidewalls at theconveyor delivery end; jogging means substantially at the junction ofsaid supply and delivery ends for engaging and jogging at least some ofthe conveyed articles; said jogging means comprising an article engagingmember forming a part of one of said sidewalls, and means forsimultaneously moving said article engaging member in two differentdirections of movement, said moving means comprising reciprocating meanscoupled to said article engaging member for moving said member in asubstantially rectilinear direction, and means cooperating with saidmember during its movement in said rectilinear direction for pivotallymoving said member in a direction transverse to said rectilineardirection.
 7. The invention according to claim 6 wherein said articleengaging member is pivotal about a pivot spaced from an end of saidmember, and said moving means comprises a reciprocating means coupled tosaid pivot for moving said member in a substantially rectilineardirection, and a ramp engageable by said one end of said member duringits movement in said rectilinear direction for pivotally moving saidmember in a direction transverse to said rectilinear direction.
 8. Theinvention according to claim 6 wherein said article engaging member issubstantially flat, elongated and rectangular, and has two free ends anda pivot centrally of said free ends about which said member pivotal, andsaid moving means comprises a reciprocating means coupled to said pivotfor moving saiD member in a substantially rectilinear direction, and apair of spaced-apart cam means on said conveying means, each cam meansadopted to be engageable by a complimentary one of said free ends uponmovement of said member in said rectilinear direction for pivotallymoving said member in a direction transverse to said rectilineardirection.
 9. The invention according to claim 8 wherein said cam meanscomprises ramps facing in opposite directions, each ramp having a base,one end displaced a predetermined distance from said base and the otherend displaced a greater distance from said base, and said one end ofeach of said ramps is closer to said pivot than said other end.